Fixing loose wheels

A problem with cheap engineering design* is that solving mechanical problems like this becomes a major problem. Solutions:

1)- Loctite wheel to axle. (much the solution you've already tried) 2)- serrate the axle end using serated jaw pliers and then hope 1) works. 3)- buy replacement wheel + axle set and fit. (yeah, right ;-) 4)- machine new plastic wheel bush on lathe and fit. (or fluke finding a piece of plastic tube the same size as the bush) 5)- buy a damaged Mainline Mogul and steal the required wheelset from it.

You've tried #1) which probably only leaves you #5 to try.

Regards, Greg.P. NZ

*Cheap engineering design doesn't necessarily equal cheap product.

Is the Bachmann Mogul chassis perhaps available seperately? Brian

There is no easy fix for this, unless you can find another Mogul to cannibalise for parts. Or maybe to swap chassis. As another poster has suggested a Bachmann Mogul chassis might fit, buy why chop up a perfectly good Bachmann loco to rescue a 20+ year old Mainline model?

No matter what you try, quartering can't be done by eye. You need a jig. North West Short Line make one that works quite well

But for a one-off like this, it's probably not worth the cost.

IMO, your best bet is to put the old loco in a display case, and indulge in nostalgia every time you look at it. You could make a nice shadow box with backscene for hanging on the living room wall.... Might even impress the Better Half. ;-)

There seems to be quite a few plastic tubes/bushes on the web. Someone somewhere must have something suitable... E.g.

If you have a set of tiny drills (under 1mm) you can drill along the top of the axle to create a "keyway" to hammer in a small pin. This will lock the wheel to the axle. Go easy or you will split the plastic wheel. Make sure you have the quartering right before you commit yourself to drilling the keyway slot, too. Pull the motor out so the wheels can revolve easily and find the place where the whole wheelset revolves most easily.

It better not be halving! That's asking for the drive to jam twice every revolution...

fred.

You can do a similar trick with two file cuts, which might be easier than trying to drill through combination of wheel and axle (unless well equipped with workshop tools for such work).

Cut one grove in the axle. Cut a similar one in the bore of the wheel such that the cuts will coincide to some extent when wheels are reassembled. Assemble with adhesive (could be loctite or araldite) and quarter before the adhesive sets. The adhesive will fill the cuts and form a drive key which should stop the wheel rotating.

Quartering jig, or by eye with lots and lots of fiddling back and forth. Can be done by eye by careful alignment of coupling rods and observation of pressure of crankpins in coupling rod holes. But, "by eye" is not compatible with fast set adhesives.

GW Models (regular adverts in UK press) make a decent quality jig.

- Nigel

Oh yes it can!

Oh no you don't!

Quartering the easy way by Alan Gibson:

MBQ

"BH Williams" wrote

In theory yes, in practice no. Certainly none currently available.

John.

"Steve Noble" wrote

My guess is that the plastic axle into which the stub axles on the wheelsets fit has split. Check it out carefully and fix the cracks with Plastic Weld (dichloromethane from memory) and when it it well & truly hardened then you can generally secure the stub axle into the plastic with superglue. Clearly you need to ensure that the wheel is fairly accurately quartered before fixing with superglue.

John.

Yes, I've tried that. I may even have tried it _before_ Alan Gibson, in which case I could claim priority. But I won't. I'll let Alan take the blame. ;-)

Despite Alan's cheery assurances, it doesn't work very well. ;-(

If it jams half way through a revolution how does it manage to jam the second time??? ;-)

Greg.P.

If the loco in question has the Bachmann "muff" between wheels with journal and stub axles, then my previous advice is mostly wrong. The only practical solution without machine tools is to fit a new muff (with gear) or a complete (new) chassis. The only place to find those is from a donor loco. (presumably a damaged one that's been dropped on a concrete floor or one that's been chewed by the cat)

I have bored out a muff with gear so that the gear could be fitted to a new turned muff, (all done on the lathe) but that isn't a commercially viable repair.

Regards, Greg.P.

Manual quartering works for me I've just done it tonight on a Mainline Jubilee :)

Good for you. ;-)

My great-great...grandfather was quartered by Cromwell, I think he used horses!

Greg.P.

Was he horse drawn, or merely hung like one?

The records don't show if or how he was hung, but as I'm here so I presume he was.

Regards, Greg.P.

(you're RUDE! ;-)